up and down and all around
by lowi
Summary: And it was just like that for them, up, down, all around. -Teddy and Lily- /for Ellie


_A/N: Written for the __First Kiss Challenge__ in the HPFC._

_This is also my extremely delayed Christmas present for Ellie (__robb-starks__). I'm sorry this took so long, Ellie, and I hope you'll like it!_

_And many thanks to my fantastic betareader __mew-tsubaki__._

* * *

**up and down and all around**

She smiled and so did he and everything was good.

Or so he thought. Teddy had never known what was moving underneath Lily's fiercely red locks, and if she was to decide, he never would either. She did not want him to laugh at her; she did not want him to believe it was yet another joke from her. So, she would keep her mouth closed and let him think she loved him as nothing but an older brother.

::::

He was dreaming and he thought he was going insane because this was not what he wanted. They had been twirling in the moonlight and it had smelled of the sea and her dress had been soaring through the sky like a bird's wings, and he tried so hard to get rid of those images of her. He pulled himself closer to Victoire and steadied his breathing and once more feared that he was going mad.

::::

"I remember when you helped me build a sand castle over there."

"Me, too."

"It was fun."

"It was. You threw sand in my face when I dropped a spade on one of the towers."

"You deserved it."

"It was accidental."

"But you destroyed it. What I had been working on for so long."

"I suppose I did."

"Mmm."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"Okay."

::::

Teddy sat by a table and Victoire was talking to him in some type of language he couldn't understand. His eyes were fastened on Lily and she was dancing and everyone was watching her because she had never glittered more than tonight. It was her eighteenth birthday and she was of course supposed to glitter but Teddy was not supposed to feel jealousy burning in his throat when she was asked to another dance and another dance and another dance.

He could not help it. But he could pretend and he could grab Victoire's hand and dance with her and listen to everyone cooing over them and watch Lily's eyes turn black…no way, that must have been a trick of the light.

::::

"Teddy, do you love me?" Victoire lay in bed, a hand underneath her chin, propping up her head successfully and allowing her hair to stream down against her pillow.

"Of course, honey."

"Will you marry me?"

The silence that hanged in the air when Teddy had left and the echo of the door being slammed shut was like an alarm bell going off.

::::

Once upon a time there were two children, one a little older and one a little younger, who ran away together.

They packed two rucksacks and grabbed each other's hands and walked out in the night.

They never really came back.

::::

It rained. She looked up and saw him walking towards her. She rose from the ground and turned her back against him. He yelled something. She started to run. Away from him. He didn't follow.

::::

She decided to go and see him one dark autumn's morning. It was early, so very early, but she couldn't wait, because if she did she would change her mind and not go.

She knocked at his door and waited.

He opened the door with half-closed eyes and she waited a little longer.

He opened his eyes and she still had to wait.

"Lily?"

"Duh." And now she did not need to wait anymore. "Do I look like someone else?"

"No."

"Can I come in?"

"Yes."

He allowed her to enter and she suddenly wanted to go home. But then he lifted his arms as if he was going to hug her, so she hugged him instead and now she only wanted to stay.

The tea he offered her tasted so much better because he was drinking it, too. The warmth spread in her gut and her cheeks were probably red like her hair. It did not matter very much, though.

They finished their tea at the same time and their eyes met and they giggled and it was rather silly, to be honest.

Still, it was so very wonderful.

::::

They kissed for the first time in James' room, of all places.

She lifted the cardboard box there in the same time as he grabbed it, too, and their noses bumped together when they looked up, so they thought they might as well go for it.

Teddy tasted of dust and Lily smelled of forgotten-ness from being in James' room and still it was what both of them always had expected.

Then James came in and scolded them for not working, but he said nothing about them kissing and in that moment Lily loved her brother. But most of all, she loved Teddy.

::::

Teddy. Five feet eleven inches. Brown hair with occasionally blue streaks. Blonde when he was upset. Green eyes, every now and then turning black. Big feet which he always stumbled over. Wolfish qualities, like showing his teeth when angry, being extra emotional around full moons, and grinning, of course, wolfishly at stupid jokes. An unhealthy addiction to liquorice, and a gag-response at the mere thought of strawberry ice cream.

Teddy Remus Lupin. The complete story.

::::

Teddy lifted a lock of her hair to his nose. She was fast asleep, and her fingers were curled around his wrist, and she smelled of him.

She still smelled of herself, but some part of her smelled of him, also. In fact, they smelled the same.

They smelled the same.

::::

"Teddy, just go, this—this isn't working," she said with a voice drained of all its love and liveliness, and her eyes were so tired that Teddy couldn't stand them.

"No," he answered. "It is working, don't be silly." He had calmed down enough now from being so upset his vision had been blurred with flames. "It was just a stupid fight."

"It wasn't," she answered quietly, but she didn't sound convinced, and realizing that made Teddy smile softly.

"Come on; it was, Lily," he said, and he finally dared to step closer to her, finally dared to grab her hand. And she didn't pull free.

"Okay, it was," she mumbled, and he buried his head in her hair and never wanted to leave.

Because when they fought like this, and then forgave each other, it felt as though it strengthened their bond in a way that Teddy couldn't quite explain, but it made him proud of them. That they didn't let it all go, that they tried their best, always and ever, to make it work.

That they wouldn't let the other go without a fight.

::::

"I love you, Lily."

"I know you do."

"And you love me, too."

"Yes, Captain Obvious."

"Very funny."


End file.
